Markram, De Kock, Ngidi demolish West Indies to power South Africa to thumping win

Match Overview

South Africa and West Indies locked horns in the 47th match, their second of the Super Eights of the ICC T20 World Cup 2026, at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Thursday, February 26. South African captain Aiden Markram won the toss and elected to field first.

The West Indies batters came out with a plan to go after the bowling right from the beginning. It worked to perfection initially, but Kagiso Rabada provided a dent with a two-wicket third over which sent back Brandon King and the hero of the last match Shimron Hetmyer. The Caribbean side stuck to the same strategy and the result was the same, too as South Africa produced another two-wicket over.

West Indies finished the powerplay at 52/4 and it felt they might consolidate for the next few overs. However, that was not to be the case as they focused on scoring fast and paid the price for it again. The Caribbeans were in big trouble at 83/7 in just the 11th over and it seemed like South Africa might soon bowl them out.

But, Jason Holder and Romario Shepherd had different plans. The duo kept on attacking like the others and their risks paid off. The batters worked around the bowlers sensibly and chose the right deliveries to hit their shots. South Africa appeared to be casual at the beginning of the partnership and the batters took full advantage of it, creating much-needed momentum.

The partnership came to an end off the penultimate delivery of the innings, but not before creating a record for being the highest eighth-wicket stand (89 off 57) in all T20Is. Meanwhile, the West Indies finished at a respectable and competitive-looking 176/8.

South African openers - Aiden Markram and Quinton de Kock - began the chase in earnest. The batters looked at ease and played their strokes freely to gain an early advantage. The bowlers looked insipid as the left-right pair dominated the proceedings. The Proteas, in no time, crossed the 50-run mark and finished the powerplay at 69 for no loss.

Markram was the aggressor of the two for the most part, but De Kock accelerated after a while too. The partnership lasted 48 balls for 95 runs before De Kock was dismissed by Roston Chase. New man Ryan Rickelton joined Markram and the pair continued to play in the same manner. Markram reached his 14th T20I fifty off just 27 balls in the ninth over, and with just 68 runs needed off the last 10, the game was almost gone from West Indies' grasp.

The second-wicket pair did not relent at any stage as South Africa romped home with nine wickets in hand and 23 balls remaining. With this win, the Proteas are almost into the semis. If India beat Zimbabwe tonight, their ticket to the last four will be confirmed.

Top run-scorer of the match

Top wicket-taker of the match

Player of the Match

Aiden Markram

The South African skipper was in full flow and sent the ball to all parts of the ground. The right-hander exhibited quality strokeplay and toyed with the bowlers to score his runs. The 31-year-old played fearless cricket and it appeared that he had the hang of the wicket right from the start. The innings spells a good omen for his team with the business end of the tournament on the horizon.

Turning Point

The opening partnership between Markram and De Kock was the key for the emphatic win. After the West Indies made a dramatic comeback in their first innings, they had all the momentum going their way and the chase of 177 could have turned tricky. But, the pair brushed aside all the doubts and nervousness and took their team to a commanding position within the first eight overs.

What the captains said

Winning Team Captain, Aiden Markram (SA)

"I thought we actually bowled pretty well, chasing 180 basically. Obviously the power play was a big thing for us, to get out of the power play quite nicely. So, a nice partnership with Quinny (De Kock) and then we pretty much scored runs really well throughout the power play. (On the conditions) It was slightly different. Just taking these in now, the wicket got really good again. It was slightly tacky earlier when we bowled. So, unfortunately it was tough again. But the guys bowled really well up front to take wickets. So, that helped a little bit. I think it's just to try and get into rhythm as quickly as possible."

"(On his batting) Not being so rigid and structured. It's a small difference, I suppose. It's helped quite a bit. Having that sort of rhythm flow when you've got your hands when you're batting. I'll try to just try and lock in two or three weeks. It sometimes works, it sometimes doesn't. But we're quite grateful when it comes."

Losing Team Captain, Shai Hope (WI)

"I'm not sure if we didn't come up on a wicket, but it was very important to get a big score on the board and losing so many wickets in the power play will always set us back. Like I said, I just felt it was a very good surface, maybe 40-50 runs too short in the end, but yeah, wickets in the initial power play, so many wickets in the power play, that's going to set us back. You must commend the guys in the bottom half there for giving us a chance. You know, if you credit cricket ball sometimes, you get a couple of wickets ourselves in the power play, you never know, things could have changed, but you must give credit where it's due, and I think Jason (Holder) and Sheppi (Shepherd) played a really good inning for us after that. I would say it's probably even better. I thought the 30 balls come out really nicely, not a single ounce of turn I saw when Kesh started and then when our spinners were bowling, there wasn't much purchase, so yeah, I think it was a very good surface, maybe 40-50 runs too short in the end, but yeah, wickets in the initial power play, so many wickets in the power play, so that's going to set us back."